


Superglue

by genuinehope



Category: 15& (Band), Day6 (Band), Jiminxjamie
Genre: End of Contract, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Jae is too i guess, Jamie is and adult but also Jamie is still so young, They Are Just Best Friends, but i am planning so for part two, fuck JYP, fuck kpop honestly, gonna try to get the second part up asap!, kpop industry, mentions of M.O.L.A, right now there is no mention of alcohol or anything past platonic relations btw, sideeyes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28721619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genuinehope/pseuds/genuinehope
Summary: Set around Jimin's expiration of her exclusive contract with JYP ent.Jamie has known Jae for so long, it'd be weird not to dunk on him every single day.But having to recalculate your life as a creative mind, singer, and songwriter, she has other things to focus on.Maybe also pertaining to that stupid lanky old-ass dude who is a good friend and maybe a decent human being and without whom her life would be much more of a mess. or whatever.
Relationships: Park Jaehyung | Jae/Park Jimin | Jamie (15&)





	Superglue

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched hwaiting and realized that their dynamic, if written in that one certain way, could be a gold mine And No One Has Written A Single Fic About Them? this is a crime and you are all at fault. Luckily, instead of doing my 1000 word assignment, i started writing 3000 of mush at 3am and now here we are.
> 
> Do listen to Buttermilk - Superglue to get the exact vibe and heart wrench i have been feeling in the past few days. Might have to do with the pairing, might have not to do with them. But it's the feeling. Get into it <3

Jimin entered their usual hang out room in the company building after texting Jae, asking if he was available.  
“I'm going to leave JYP”

“Fucking finally, did your lawyer give you the okay?”

"Yeah the meeting is gonna come up in a week or so I think, JYP hasn't said anything yet but it should be, the date was set for late August”

“Man congrats, you’re gonna get rid of the contract” Jae, wearing a tattered shirt for everyday company business, sat up in his lounge chair.

“Thank you, thank you” Jimin singsonged as she draped herself over the seat next to her longtime acquaintance.

“7 years of this damned company that I could’ve spent doing better shit”

“I know right”, Jae looks at his nails, probably thinking about his personal waste of time before he looked back up.  
“But you're okay though, right?”

“Of course I would be why not?” The girl let out a singular laugh. “Because I wasted the best years of my life sitting around amounting to nothing and now I have nowhere to go?” Jae’s eyes came much more into focus, assessing the situation as Jimin spoke. “Nah I am not bitter or worried at all”

“Hey now-” before he could speak she was already full on rambling like she often did.  
"I just got fat-shamed and made into nothing more than memes only for this hellhole of a company to cancel my duo and then I had to do everything by myself.” Her voice had risen impossibly towards the end of the phrase “I could've done so much I KNOW I could've done more but they just let me rot and now I come out of here with nothing to show but weight-loss and an image of a snarky bitch” she had visibly deflated ever since she had entered the room. The air already felt stale as the unbalanced exchange continued.

“Jamie-”

“I literally just came here to hate myself.” She pushed her hair back angrily. “I went through that damn show thinking I was seriously gonna reach my dreams. Become this badass singer-songwriter and producer and make so much music.” “Hah!” The laugh was obviously over-exaggerated and felt shrill to her own ears “I barely have a discography. I never even won anything big and I just about made a couple of chart lists. I am basically no one and I was miserable the entire fucking time-”

She had started to lose volume, her voice continuing to go higher until she didn't know what to say anymore. She tried to focus her eyes on the sweater-paws of the cardigan she had thrown on due to the company’s extreme AC. Jae had scooted his seat closer to her’s and she didn't know it, but he was looking at her. Her hair was hiding her face which was all cramped up in anger and maybe a bit of sadness. Call it frustration.

Jae lowered his head, trying to make eye contact with her  
“Jimin, hey. Look at me.”  
Her eyes flit around, if she made eye-contact now would probably start crying.  
He realized that she really wouldn't look for now so her carefully maneuvered her into a hug, as much as that was possible while they were still seated.  
It was a bit awkward because of that and Jae’s stupid, long, skinny limbs, but the warmth from his chest was comforting. After all these years he was still using the same aftershave she smelled on him in the early mornings of recording for ASC.

ASC, she huffed. All these hours she spent hiding her frustration with fans who didn't know how to mute themselves and took up too much of the time. All the translating she had to do off the top of her head, only to be seen as someone standing next to her co-hosts for way too long because she couldn't get another fucking job because her company didn't give two shits about her.

Jae had been talking while she was lost in her own thoughts and her eyes had unfocused.  
“You were not wasting any time. You made so many connections. Someone will offer you something, don't even worry about that, if need be I’ll hook you up personally. And you made a shitton of shit, man. Come on. You were involved in so many projects, just because there are no credits in the albums doesn't mean anything. I saw you work your ass off. And what other things were you supposed to do while you were an active MC for *literal years*. You are the fucking staple of ASC. Jamie, the ratings will go down the moment you leave. And see, you're not going out of this jobless either.”

“Jae, they made me hate myself *so much*,” Jimin spoke into his shirt.  
She could feel him looking down at her for eleven, twelve, thirteen seconds, before resuming to hug her, holding her tighter.

“They weren't worth your time ever. It was never your fault.” Jae’s voice had lost a lot of its force. Now it wasn’t about making a point. Just to gently put Jimin’s wins in front of her eyes so she could be reminded of what she had achieved. She seemed to have had forgotten. And after all that, that was the one thing she must not do. “They sure as hell don't deserve your tears. You'll walk out of here with your money and all the things you achieved. Which is a lot. And the people know you. You’re a personality. They will want you on their shows and on their OST’s. It’ll be easier now that you can take all the jobs you want. They will want Jamie. And whoever fucking makes you worry about anything, you’ll just leave them hanging. You can just block any entertainment and manager and whoever badmouths you. And you got enough people backing you up. You'll make it.” Jae lightly moved the hand that was on her left limb”  
Jimin knew Jae must be feeling his shirt dampen from her tears.

“Thanks…” she mumbled.  
They didn't say it a lot. After years of bickering back and forth, they had just taken to tough love instead of words of gratitude. But now it felt adequate. She had never really voiced her doubts out like this to him in all the years they knew each other.

She had been young; fresh off the stage from winning a show she had joined, thinking she’d get booted off immediately after seeing her co-contestants. She had talent, sure. Jimin knew she was good. But in contrast to her, the other people also looked good. Even Jae who she occasionally would cross paths with during shooting for Kpop Star looked like this cool guitarist everyone would fall in love with, although he turned out awkward dude backstage. The point was, everyone who was trying to make it big alongside her had a different body shape than her. At her age, she wasn't stupid. The girl knew that she wasn't what the industry usually wanted to see in a singer who was supposed to go on album covers and photoshoots, CF’s and whatnot. Especially, when she signed that damned contract she knew she wouldn't be left to keep her outer appearance when her company colleagues looked so different. It was good to have Yerin with her. Someone who looked like her. JYP was the kindest company out of the three that she had joined, Jimin knew that. It was still scary to read the comments. And to not get a comeback for years. She should’ve left with Yerin, she kept thinking that a year after her friend’s departure. Stupid hope kept her from leaping. She should've left and leaped. Should have risked that fall. Anything better than be employed at the same show for years, produce less than a dozen OST’s and have to make up a unit with idols and producers from other companies out of desperation. Yes, she joined M.O.L.A. because she genuinely had fun with everyone, but had JYP gotten her a comeback, a solo debut, anything at that same time, she probably would have prioritized it. But it wasn't like that happened. At least she had had fun making those couple tracks.

Jae got his debut so late, he was kind of the reason she hung on. If he could debut at a considerable later age in terms of Kpop, she sure as hell could do it again, too They bonded over their shared humor, although their beginnings were considerably awkward due to the age difference. It wasn't like Jae was literally an old man, but Jamie was still a teenager while he was in his twenties. An adult she looked up to. A different world. And now, at the beginning of her own twenties, she had come to realize, that maybe JYP really didn't have anything else in store for her. All along. He was busy managing other girl groups and making his own cringy music.

Jae pulled her out of her reverie again.  
“You’re good buddy. And if anyone wasted their youth it's me, you know that” they had laughed about his late debut before, but Jamie knew that Jae felt just as pressured by time passing as she did. They never openly talked about it in their years together but they must have subconsciously grown closer because of that as well.

“I’m just… I’m just scared, okay…” she finally distanced herself from his chest and looked to her side, away from Jae while she dried her tears with her now makeup stained sweater-paws. Jae reached for some tissues but left them on the table when he realized that he was a bit late.

He took up his speech again. “Don't be scared, man. You’re literally gonna be fine. It’s just the rough patch of leaving the company, you know that. And you’ve been considering Dive for some content too; you’re not going out of this without literally anything. You still got that Hyundai as well” she did chuckle at that with him momentarily and leaned back in her seat. “Yeah, I guess.” A sniffle. “I’m just so mad at it all, you know?” “Yeah fuck it, we know this.” They finally shared a proper look and laughed. Weirdly, Jamie’s tears started rolling again. This time, Jae saw them coming and grabbed the previously set aside tissues where he had left them “Hey. Hey. Buddy” this time it was Jamie who initiated their hug. She dove right back into her tear stains and didn't speak. The tissues Jae had put into her hands crumpled up in those cramped fists.

“Man we sure did go through a lot of shit together” Jae mused after some time of tears spilling in silence. He changed the topic. “We’re still gonna go out and drink though, right? We’re still gonna do that from time to time? Brian has been wanting to join for a while too after he heard how much fun we have with the others.” Jae was referring to their usual circle of English speaking friends that had formed sometime after Jamie had reached legal drinking age. They had gotten together and it was a nice thing to be able to talk to people and shit on companies in a bigger circle outside of Jae and other JYP artists. “I’m gonna set something up for that last day if you let me know in time,” he said while his hand stroked her back lightly.

Jamie was still not completely out of the woods with those nasty thoughts, she barely heard him this time. What got into her, she didn't know. Maybe after she had kept up this entire “let's jokingly put my friends down so we can laugh and I don't have to be vulnerable in an awkward silence” now that she had started voicing her worries, she let them become a bit more real than just the after-work lonely in her apartment moments. “Jae, they didn't think I was worth a redebut. I had to make that album all by my damn self.” Her voice was definitely affected by all this weeping now.” Had I not laid out the entire album before the meeting, they wouldn't have invested in it. They just thought here goes the 작은 돼지 again, let’s hope she’s done soon. They didn't believe in me.” She tucked a strand behind her ear. I was just an ugly vocalist, not good enough for any music shows…”

“Jamie seriously, they aren't worth all this. Fuck them, seriously.” Now Jae’s voice was gaining a bit of volume again. It was kind of a personal offense to him when his friend put their appearance down for anything other than a fleeting joke. Before he could make a point, Jamie had already continued. “I’m not fat anymore, Jae. I’m not that little kid anymore, either. I’m grown up and I am better. I’m not like that anymore.” She sounded whiny. “Why don't they see that?” Jamie had obviously been spiraling before she had entered the room. “Jimin, seriously. Look at me now.” Jae didn’t pull her face towards him but he did touch her chin for a second, hoping the touch would remind his friend of reality “No joke. 날 봐” Finally, she looked. “Breathe. No, keep looking. Eyes on me.”

It was silent besides their synched breathing for a while. Jamie felt stupid. This was like therapy but with her friend instead of a licensed professional guiding her through that same damn task they held ready for every newly debuted person under JYP. A couple of breaths to ground yourself. But she couldn't lie. It did calm her thoughts a bit, looking at her friend’s eyes and hearing him breathe with her. It wasn't her against the world. Jae was breathing with her, taking the time out of his probably already stressful day to calm her down in a situation that most likely caught both of them off guard.

\---

“Seriously thank you for today” she mumbled in the cafeteria. Jae, for once in his life being a responsible adult, had concluded that anxiety must be more intense on an empty stomach. So on the organic JYP cafeteria food they would indulge. Also, she should cherish this food while she still had unlimited access, he joked and Jimin had left out a little breath through her nose in lieu of a laugh. They were both eating when she expressed her gratitude again.

“Not even a big deal man. After all these years it would've been weird to see you be okay with just leaving. I was kinda surprised we never did this before. Was kinda therapeutic to see someone else cry besides the guys for once.” Jae put was picking at some vegetables while speaking. A habit that hadn’t ceased in all the years that she had tried to get it out of him.  
“No need to get all mushy now Please oh my god,” the girl hid her face in her hands. This is why she didn't like crying when she was upset. All that entailed an after-emotional-outburst discussion. Cursing out the company while laughing didn’t; so that was what she opted for all the other countless - really, countless - times.  
“I wasn't even being mushy I just said words” the older one laughed. “Do you want me to actually go all emotional? Pity myself as this old man stuck in a company after years of undirected youth?” The guitarist made his voice sound like that of a stereotypical old man, lighting the mood despite the actual dilemma at hand. “Shut up” she pushed his arm with her empty hand, the other holding a piece of meat with her chopsticks while Jae continued. “You young child still have your entire twenties to amount to things. You will prosper, youngling” Jae said in his lightened tone.  
“I’m still a child to you” Jamie says with half a quirk in her lips. “And you always will be” Jae returned with a bright smile. For some reason, those words annoyed her “Fuck you, man. I’m going to break all your frail fucking bones if you call me a child again.” And that was that.

**Author's Note:**

> You can support me on ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/woozbee and find me on Twitter https://twitter.com/woozloee


End file.
